Julie Alperen, DrPH is the Administrative Director of the Connors Center. Prior to joining the center in January 2018, she served for twelve years as the Program Director of the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study Data and Operations Center at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The project for which she had daily oversight is the largest NIH funded research study at Harvard, with over 20 study sites conducting multiple ongoing investigations. Julie helped launch their recent expansion to incorporate a women’s health focus. She has extensive experience collaborating with thought leaders across disciplines to develop and launch new initiatives. Julie received a Master’s Degree in Maternal and Child Health and a Doctorate Degree in Sociomedical Science from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.
Natasha Minor, MPH, is a Project Manager for the Connors Center. Before joining the Connors Center in Summer 2018, she was the Center Administrator for the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at HSPH. Natasha earned a BS in Public Health Sciences and an MPH in Community Health Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her Connors Center work includes management of Connors Center communications, events, funding opportunities, and fellowship programs.
Julianna Coraccio joined the Connors Center in May 2019 as Senior Administrative Assistant to Connors Center Executive Director Hadine Joffe. Previously, she worked in an administrative capacity at both Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Winnie Ng, MPH, joined the Connors Center in September 2019 in the role of Project Manager. Winnie was most recently a Project Manager in Breast Oncology and the Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Winnie earned a BA and an MA in Geography from SUNY Binghampton and an MPH in Epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health.
Aleta is the Senior Project Manager for the Connors Center. She has also been the Project Manager for the Women’s Hormones and Aging Research Program (WHARP) since 2015. She completed her MPH in Epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health, her MS in Conservation Biology & Sustainability from the University of Maryland-College Park, and her BA in Psychology from the University of Chicago. Before joining WHARP, Aleta worked for the Nurses’ Health Study at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and for the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical Center. She also completed a practicum at Slone Epidemiology Center for PRESTO, an Internet-based fertility cohort study. She is interested in studying women’s mental and reproductive health and investigating quality-of-life outcomes for women across the lifespan.
Mathena joined the Connors Center and the Women’s Hormones and Aging Research Program in June 2019 as a Research Coordinator. She graduated from Smith College in May 2019 with a B.A. in Psychology with a Statistical and Data Sciences minor. While at Smith, she completed an Honors thesis on the effects of homesickness and autobiographical memory on first-generation college students and worked on a research project investigating changes in alcohol and drug behavior among college students. Mathena also spent a summer working at the NASA Ames Research Center in California in the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory, assisting on clinical sleep research.
Athena joined the Connors Center and the Women’s Hormones and Aging Research Program in June 2019 as a Research Coordinator. She graduated from Amherst College in May 2019 with a B.A. in Neuroscience. Athena completed an Honors thesis looking at sex differences in color preference in relation to prenatal androgen exposure. She has spent the past 2 summers working in the Longwood Medical Area – in 2017, as an intern with the LGBT & Allies Employee Resource Group at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and, in 2018, as a Research Assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital with the Disorders of Sex Development and Gender Management Services.
Lauren joined the Connors Center and the Women’s Hormones and Aging Research Program in July 2019 as a Research Coordinator. Lauren graduated from Middlebury College in May 2018 with a BA in Economics. She completed an Honors thesis on the labor market impacts of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion provision. After graduating, Lauren spent a year working for the Boston Children’s Hospital Department of Urology, where she assisted with research projects aimed at improving the diagnostic process for a variety of urologic conditions. She plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
